Seriously, and this is a good point. Things change, life changes, what you have today may not be there tomorrow. Ten years ago I was near broke then five years ago I was part of the wealthy landed gentry. Today through no fault of my own other than not seeing the writing on the wall and selling off my rental properties at the top of the market Iím much worse off than I was before I started law school. Material wealth comes, goes, ebbs, flows. There are good times and bad, and nothing lasts forever.

So you start over. At least successful people do, I donít know anyone I consider successful that has not had to start over at least once in their lives. Its builds character, part of that character is a bit of fear, fear that someday it all might be taken away from you, lose that fear and when it does youíre not mentally ready or able to start over, and that is where many people fail. Being successful is spite of failure or setbacks is what separates successful people from lucky people. Lucky people remain successful as long as their luck holds out, successful people are successful regardless and in spite of what life gives them because they make success happen on their own.

A fellow survivor! I built my little empire in south St. Louis; 81 apts. I thought I had life licked, then 17 months of marriage, a biased (female) magistrate, and a poor choice of attorneys *boom* all gone. But like you said, successful people make their own luck and move forward. Seven years ago I saw myself going to law school and today I'm writing this from campus; life is good.

I'd be willing to bet it won't be too long before the both of us are carving out chunks of real property, for ourselves, again. There is just something about real estate once it gets in your blood!?

For me, the miscommunication isn't generational since you are probably only a few years older than I. However, I do have difficulty with your writing style. It seems like you are having a dialogue in your head but only some of it winds up on the page.

Your colleagues are radical and were fire brands in their day but have determined that students don't get it. Without intent to nitpick, I find this very confusing. What don't students get? The institution of law school? The law? Life?

As to the Generation Gap, I am amused that every generation down through time thinks the generation behind them will be the downfall of humanity. If we start with the proposition that twenty-somethings have a sense of entitlement (or whatever it is that makes their transition in the working world difficult), then how did they get there? Did an entire generation, uninfluenced by the outside world, unilaterally decide to stomp their feet and scream "I deserve it!". Hardly. You can't have a serious discussion about a younger generation without looking at your own. As humans we find this self diagnosis difficult.

Would that we could sit down, have a scotch, and solve all the worlds problems.

Nothing personal, but I hope the pass rate in most states comes in betweeen 20 and 30% for the next 4 or 5 years. We need to cull the herd and give this legal market a chance to recover, so that the millions of unemployed lawyers we already have floating around can find some work.

If you are that concerned, quit and find a new career. Lead by example and you might start a movement.

Your ready for this, you really are. You know enough to pass at this point.

The only thing that can defeat you now is yourself. This is not law school, this is not the time to get fancy with your legal reasoning, youíre not trying to beat anyone out for that A. State your rules, apply your facts, go for your points, address the stuff you know and bypass the stuff you have forgotten. Donít get bogged down, plow forward even if you seem stuck. BS if you have to, you wonít get any points deducted and may just get lucky and say something the grader thinks counts as a point. Your all smart enough to pass this. All you need to do is pass by one point, itís a measure of competency, not highest grade in the class, to the bar youíre as competent if you pass by one point as you are if you pass by 100 points. Focus on the exam, not the "what ifs," don't project bad things, you will make it through this.

Believe in yourself, shake it off when you start to get discouraged and donít second guess yourself. YOU KNOW ENOUGH TO PASS - ALL OF YOU DO. Donít let it psyche you out, remember no matter how tough it seems for you there is someone out there who has it tougher (even compared to me!) So do the best you can and thatís the best you can do.

I've ordered 3 casebooks so far and all have been the right one (of the dozens of books I've ordered for undergrad only 1 was incorrect and amazon made good on it). Saved a little over half what it would cost from the school bookstore.